Chennai Super Kings' veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo emulated Lasith Malinga's record of taking most wickets in the IPL history on Saturday (March 26). In the IPL 2022 opener where Chennai Super Kings went down to Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets, Bravo stood tall with three wickets to become joint all time highest wicket taker with 170 wickets, however, his efforts went in vain as the Dhoni-led side ran out of steam against Shreyas Iyer-led KKR.
Sam Billings was Bravo's 170th scalp as the all-rounder returned with an impressive spell of 3/20. His other two preys were Venkatesh Iyer (16) and Nitish Rana (21). Bravo reached this milestone in 152 matches while the retired Malinga took mere 122 matches to achieve this feat.
Before the IPL 15 opener, Bravo had 167 wickets from 151 games at an average of 24.31. Former Mumbai Indians (MI) star bowler Malinga has 170 wickets to his name from 122 games at an average of 19.79. While Bravo has played more games than Malinga, he has bowled just 14.2 more overs in comparison. Also, the Caribbean all-rounder is yet to take a fifer in the league.
The 38-year-old was bought back by CSK for Rs 4.4 crore in the mega auction after a mini-bidding war with Delhi Capitals (DC).
In the match, while chasing a lowly target of 132, KKR crossed the line with six wickets and nine balls to spare. Ajinkya Rahane played a fine knock of 44 off 34 balls before Sam Billings (25 off 22) and newly appointed skipper Shreyas Iyer's (20 off 19) sedate knocks helped KKR overhaul the target with ease.
Earlier, MS Dhoni scored a half-century as his exploits helped Chennai Super Kings (CSK) post a not so competitive total of 131 for five against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing IPL 2022 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. After being put on to bat first, CSK got off to the worst possible start, losing Ruturaj Gaikwad (0) in the first over. CSK were then reduced to 61 for five before Dhoni (50) and Ravindra Jadeja's (26) late blitz took them to a respectable total. For KKR, Umesh Yadav took two wickets while Varun Chakaravarthy and Andre Russell picked a wicket each.
